What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is taking the ideas or words of others and passing them off as your own.
Plagiarism is a type of intellectual theft.
How to Avoid Plagiarism?
Always remember to fully reference every use of someone else’s words or ideas.
What are the Penalties If I Do Plagiarise?
Penalties range from counselling (for very minor offences) to failing the assignment, to
failing the course, to being excluded, or expelled or fined (for serious cases).
Help is available at the
Learning Centre.
Assessment Cover Sheet
Students should ensure that all assignments are submitted with a signed Assessment Cover
Sheet. Students can access this in Current Students part of this website under Learning and
Teaching /
Key Information.
Turnitin
Many written assignments will be checked for similarities to millions of web sites, articles,
books, databases and other student assignments by being submitted to
Turnitin. Turnitin will
provide your Lecturer or Tutor with an Originality Report that will show the similarity to these
other sources. Your Lecturer or Tutor will then have to consider to what extent this similarity is
plagiarism.
What Happens if I Plagiarise?
The academic who is marking your work will decide whether your plagiarism is Significant, by
taking into account the importance to your work of the material you plagiarised, the amount of
plagiarised material and the size of the assessment. Even if it is judged as not Significant, the
teacher can reduce marks, ask you to resubmit or ask you to attend a Learning Centre workshop.
If it is judged as Significant, the Head of School is notified and an investigation is
undertaken by the School Student Ethics Officer, and you will be asked to attend an interview with
the Head of School.
You may bring a support person to observe the interview. The allegations and evidence will be
outlined clearly to you, you will be given a chance to comment on the evidence, and a decision will
normally be made, and a penalty determined.
The appropriate penalties can include a written warning, referral to the Learning Centre, a
reduction in marks (including to zero), an opportunity for re-submission (with or without a
reduction in marks) and/or failure in the entire course.
The Faculty Student Ethics Officer is informed and an entry made onto the University’s
Central Plagiarism Register with the details of the case. This entry will stay on the register
until after you graduate.
What if the case is judged to be more serious?
If the Head of School considers your plagiarism to be very serious, and comes down to
Academic Misconduct (such as cheating), your case can be referred onto the Vice-Chancellor as a
serious Student Academic Misconduct. The Vice-Chancellor can determine penalties, including
failure, exclusion from the University or a fine.
How to Hand Your Assignment into Turnitin
If your lecturer decides to use Turnitin to help check for plagiarism, there are three ways
in which you can hand your essay into Turnitin for checking.